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The Supreme Court is giving an election-year hearing to a dispute over state regulation of abortion clinics in the court's first abortion case in eight years. The justices said Friday they will hear arguments, probably in March, over a Texas law that would leave about 10 abortion clinics open across the state. A decision should come by late June, four months before the presidential election. (Sherman, 11/15)

Setting up what could be a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a legal challenge to Texas’ 2013 abortion law, which could shut down about half of the state’s 19 remaining abortion clinics. The high court's decision could spell out how far states can go in restricting abortion. The Texas restrictions, passed as part of House Bill 2, would require abortion facilities meet hospital-like ambulatory surgical center standards, including minimum sizes for rooms and doorways, pipelines for anesthesia, and other modifications. A separate provision, which has already gone into effect, requires doctors who perform the procedure to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic. (Ura, 11/13)

The Supreme Court said last week it would take on the biggest challenge to abortion rights in a quarter century, agreeing to hear a challenge against a Texas law that put strict requirements on abortion providers in the name of protecting women's health. The 2013 law requires abortion clinics to meet the same medical standards as standalone surgery centers, and forces doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. (Fox, 11/16)

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a Texas law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and requires abortion clinics to have the facilities of an outpatient surgical center. (Totenberg, 11/13)

The Supreme Court on Friday decided to hear its first major abortion controversy in nearly a decade, agreeing to determine how far states may go in regulating the procedure without violating a woman’s constitutional rights. (Barnes, 11/13)

The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear a challenge to key parts of Texas' 2013 abortion law that supporters of abortion rights say is one of the strictest in the nation. (De Vogue, 11/13)

The abortion case joins a series of divisive social issues on the court’s docket likely to inject the justices into the debate surrounding the 2016 presidential election. Last week, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal on contraceptive-coverage regulations under the Affordable Care Act, and in December the court will hear argument on affirmative action in university admissions. The issues in recent years have divided the court 5-4 between conservatives and liberals, with maverick conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy typically casting the deciding vote. (Bravin, 11/13)